Children at Play Airplane Quilt

A little over a year ago, I fell in love with Sarah Jane’s “Children at Play” fabric for Michael Miller.  I bought a few fat quarters without a real plan for what to do with it.  Later I decided to make a crib quilt for Damon (my oldest) for when we turned his crib into a daybed.  The blanket that came with his crib set is too small to use in anything other than a crib.

I started the quilt but didn’t finish it.  Fast forward to finding out I was pregnant—we now have different plans for that crib, and my oldest will be in a twin bed.  So, I was left with a half-finished quilt.  Instead of leaving it on the shelf, I’ve decided to make it up for my new little boy and use it as a car quilt.  Damon has a Dr. Seuss quilt that we keep in the car, and I’ve loved having one there to throw over him during the cold months.

I took out a few pieces to make the quilt more square instead of long, as I had planned it for the daybed.  This quilt is loosely based off this quilt designed for a quilt market when the fabric line was first introduced:

Original photo found on Michael Miller’s Blog

Isn’t it adorable?  There is actually a tutorial and downloadable template on the website for the airplane.  Unfortunately, I found the picture of this quilt on another blog and didn’t find the template until after I had already made my own—so, if you decide to make this, you’ll have a much easier time of it than I did!

I actually like this quilt better than my own, but I thought so much white space wasn’t very practical for an often-used baby quilt, so I incorporated more prints in mine, and I’m quite happy with mine as well.  The one thing I did do differently on this quilt was to give the airplane applique a trapunto effect so that it stands out more.  You can find the tutorial here.

I have several fabric scraps leftover, so I might make the version above as a baby gift in the future.  I love the colors and the fabric design.

I quilted this with loop-de-loops just like in the picture.  It echoes the airplane trails nicely.  I did not quilt over the applique because I didn’t want to flatten out the trapunto effect.  I also used the airplane print on the back—it was one of my favorites in the line, and I think it coordinates nicely with the front since I used the airplane as the main focus of the quilt top.